Family Matters
by StarWarrior72
Summary: Family ties change everything. Where you are, what you do, every minute of every day. Everything. Family can be confusing, however. Especially if it's all over the galaxy. Vader Anakin , Padme, Luke, Leia, and a couple of OCs.
1. Chapter 1

"I hated you!" Vader screamed at his old master who lay dying in the lava.

"I loved you, Anakin! You were my brother!" Obi-Wan's last words were swallowed in a scream of pain.

C3P-0 carried his mistresses' body up the landing ramp as quickly as he could. Padme moaned again.

"Don't worry, Mistress Padme. Artoo will get us out of here."

"Ani!" Padme called out to the dunes of red hot sand, "Ani!"

"Artoo, we really must hurry. Vader will return any moment."

Artoo bleeped in acknowledgement and started towards the cockpit. A moment later they were taking off.

"It will be all right, Mistress Padme. You must hold on. For your children, Mistress." Threepio fretted.

The ship lurched into hyperspace. Moments later they re-entered realspace. Artoo had found a med center on a nearby moon. As they landed, Threepio ran down the landing ramp as quickly as his joints would allow.

He moved to a med droid, "My mistress is giving birth on that ship," he said, pointing, "There are no humans or med droids to help with the delivery!"

As the med droid raced up the ramp Threepio followed it back up, somewhat more slowly. The faster droid met him half way, carrying Padme's body. Threepio turned back to move the way he'd come.

When they reached the delivery area, Padme was very close to birthing her child. Threepio watched and fretted as Padme gave birth to twins. As the two little bundles entered the galaxy their mother named them, Luke and Leia.

One of the droids helped Padme to sit up and passed her the children. Luke immediately started to nurse and Leia quickly followed suit.

Padme managed to smile despite her pain, "Look at them, Threepio, aren't they perfect?"

Threepio looked at the wrinkled, pink and truthfully quite hideous bodies, "Yes. A ship has just landed. Master Yoda and Senator Organa would like to see the babies too, I'm sure."

"Yoda is here?"

"Yes, should I see him in?"

"Yes, please."

Threepio exited Padme's room, "This way, please, Master Yoda."

"Padme, all right is she?"

"Yes, and she has the two most lovely babies! Their names are Luke and Leia and…" Yoda tuned the droid out and entered Padme's room.

Padme gave the Jedi Master a weak smile and held her children close. She was well aware of the danger the children were in and of the damage she had caused the galaxy.

Picking up these thoughts Yoda shook his head, "Your fault, it was not. Anakin's turn, inevitable it was. Moves in strange ways, the Force does."

Padme looked at her children. They had stopped nursing and were moving around slightly. Bail Organa, who had followed the droid and the Jedi Master in to the room, reached out to Padme in an offer to take one of them for her. Padme carefully extracted Leia from her brother's arms and placed her in the Senator's hands.

"Protected the children must be, Padme. For their safety it is."

"I can let one go, Master Yoda, but, please, don't ask me to say goodbye to both." Padme felt her son squirming blindly, trying to find his sister.

"If sure you are."

Padme looked at the girl in Bail's hands and at the little boy in her lap. She hated herself for saying goodbye to either one of them. How would the twin she had to let go feel if it ever found out? As she studied her son's tiny features Bail spoke up.

"Padme, if you would like the girl-"

"Leia," Padme corrected.

"Leia, to stay with me, I would be more than happy to take her in. My wife and I have always talked of adopting a baby girl."

"I don't know. I don't want to let either one of my precious children go. It would be a danger to her if I visited her, wouldn't it?"

"A danger it would be. Yes." Yoda bowed his head.

Suddenly Luke blinked. As his eyes opened for the first time Padme saw a flicker of her husband there. Staring into her baby's blue eyes, she made the decision. It tore her to let either baby go, but Luke was so like his father… "Take good care of her, Bail. I'm counting on you."

"Keep the boy, you will?"

"Yes, Master Yoda. Luke will be safe with me." Padme looked again at her son's adorable features and snuggled him gently.

Bail looked down at the baby girl he had just adopted and wondered how his wife would take it. They had talked about adopting a baby girl, but they had assumed that there would be more planning and less spur-of-the-moment decision making. Leia smiled sweetly and Bail decided that all he had to do was teach her to do that on command and he would be in the clear.

"I have to go. My wife will want to know what's happened."

Padme sat up and kissed her daughter goodbye and then Bail was gone, along with Leia.

Luke started wailing the moment his sister left the room. Padme held him and cuddled him and tried to console him, but her own tears did not make her very convincing.

After a few minutes, Luke had calmed down enough that it was possible to talk over his small sobs.

"Go, I must. Looking for me the Emperor will be. If contact me you must, use this." He passed Padme a comlink.

"Yes, Master Yoda. If there is an emergency you will know."

Yoda left Padme alone to hold her son and try to calm him and convince him that he would be all right without his sister.


	2. Chapter 2

Vader turned from his old master's body as he felt his wife's pain in the Force. He was going to be a father. The baby was coming. His baby.

He started to run in the pumice and slipped. Scrambling back up, he continued his race to his fighter and Padme's transport.

He arrived on the platform just in time to see her ship take off. He watched in horror as the ship turned and started away from the planet, taking his beloved far away. Subconsciously he plotted the ship's course.

Climbing into his fighter, he gunned the engines and started after the gleaming transport.

As the larger ship jumped to hyperspace, Vader swore. He started the navicomputer and searched for any potential destinations his wife could have had in mind. How she was piloting when he could sense how far into labor she was, Vader didn't know.

Vader's ship drifted infuriatingly for almost an hour before something came up on the navi-computer view screen. Polis Massa, the largest meteor had a good med center. Vader entered the coordinates and the ship jumped to hyperspace.

When he climbed out of the ship he knew, instantly, that he was too late. He reached out in the Force, desperately trying to sense his wife. She wasn't there. The harder he looked, the farther away she seemed.

He could sense Yoda, though he was sure that the little green alien had already left. The little Jedi had also hidden Padme's trail so Vader couldn't sense where she'd gone. Vader had a sinking feeling that he may have lost her forever.

Sadly, Vader climbed back into his ship and took off. He supposed that he should go back to the Empire, but he didn't want to. He wanted to find his family and run far, far away from the crisis. Or at least just find his family.

It tore at his heart to know that this simple desire was impossible. He felt enslaved all over again._ Enslaved! That's the answer! I can't have my own family back, but I could buy a slave to raise! Where can I find a 'good' slave market? _He looked through a map of the galaxy for a slave market. _That'll do it._

Vader set the coordinates and set out for the system.

As the ship stopped next to the planet Zygerria, Vader scowled at the slave market and hopped out of his ship. Now that he was here he realized that he had no idea about how to choose his slave.

He stalked between the aisles of slaves trying to choose just one to save. There were so many people who needed help. _A child,_ he reminded himself,_ I want a child. That narrows it down a bit. It would be cruel to take a child away from its parents._ He frowned, _I would know. I`ve been on both ends of that now._

He continued his march. He was aware of the frightened slaves all around him. He heard sobs as one of them cried out helplessly. He spun, well aware that his fury would be showing on his face. A little human girl, maybe three, was cowering from a man with a whip.

She was screaming incoherently and trying to protect her head with her arms.

Vader ran to her side and covered her little body with his own. The next lash came down on his back.

The slaver retracted the whip as quickly as he could and Vader looked up at him, still cradling the slave in his arms.

"Listen, Sir. You shouldn't just throw yourself in front of a whip, you could really get hurt." He extended a hand.

Vader ignored the proffered hand and stood up himself, bringing the little girl up in his arms. She whimpered and Vader held her close and safe. "The slaves should take the beatings because they were born into slavery or kidnapped?"

"The weak have always been ruled by the strong. That is the way of the galaxy." The man shrugged, as though stating an obvious fact.

Vader snarled and drew his lightsaber, "Are you calling me weak? I was a slave once too."

The slaver shivered and looked at the weapon, "No-no of course not."

"Good," he deactivated his saber, "Free the girl. I'm taking her."

"Yes, Sir. She's mute, I warn you." The slaver waved the remote deactivator at the girl and Vader held her closer as she shivered.

Vader carried the little girl to the ship and carefully rested her inside. She looked up at him with huge eyes and Vader carefully brushed his fingers across her cheek. She held his hand and pressed it to her cheek.

He crawled in and took her on his lap, there was only one seat. She put her head on his shoulder and fell asleep on the flight back to the Empire.


	3. Chapter 3

Padme chose to raise Luke on her own home planet of Naboo. Luke was happy there and Padme knew the terrain, so it was a fairly good choice. As Luke grew, Padme got used to his middle-of-the-night fits of hysterics for no apparent reason, assuming that he was upset because of something that had happened to his twin.

"Mama!" Luke toddled towards his mother, stumbled on a toy he had left on the floor and fell. Padme just caught him. She set him back on his feet. "Mama!" Luke repeated.

Padme picked her son up and put him on her lap, "What do you need, Sweetie? Mama's busy."

"Mama!" Luke reached for a stray strand of Padme's hair. She quickly pushed it away.

"Mama's busy right now. Why don't you go play with Threepio?"

Luke frowned, "Mama."

"Mama's busy, Sweetheart. Go play with someone else."

Luke's little round face lit up, "Dada!"

Padme's heart twisted, "Dada isn't here right now."

Luke was undeterred, "Mama! Dada!"

Padme stood up from her work and carried her son back to his nursery. She set him in his playpen and returned to her work.

Five minutes later, Luke was back, "Mama!"

"Luke, how did you get out of your playpen?"

Luke smiled innocently, "Mama pay!"

"Mama _work_. Luke play."

"Mama pay _wif_ Lukey!"

"Luke play with _Threepio_."

"Theepie boken."

"Threepio's broken?"

Luke paused and looked at his mother quizzically, "Theepie sweepy." He noticed the rhyme and started to prance around singing "Theepie sweepy! Theepie sweepy!"

Padme picked her son back up and carried him back to his playpen yet again. She switched Threepio back on.

"Oh my! What happened?"

"You shut down and Luke got away. Keep him here, will you?"

"That's odd. I don't remember shutting off."

Padme headed back to her desk as the droid tried to distract Luke with a variety of different toys. She had just started to get back into her new job as an environmentalist when a little voice piped up behind her.

"Mama pay!" she turned to see her son holding up a small model ship.

"Luke, what are you doing out of your playpen?"

"Mama pay! Mama pay sip! Mama pay wif Lukey!" Luke passed his mother his toy.

"Mama's very busy, Sweetie. Go play with Threepio." Padme gave her son his ship.

"Theepie sweepy." Luke said unconcernedly, making his little ship zoom through the air with one hand.

"Threepio switched himself off again?" This was highly unlike Threepio. He would babysit all the children on Naboo if Padme told him to.

"Mama tach!" Luke suddenly threw his ship to his mother, who caught it on reflex. Luke laughed. Padme returned the ship to its owner again.

Padme picked her son up again and put him in his playpen. She turned Threepio back on.

"And stay on this time! Luke needs company at all times." She told the droid.

As she headed back out she heard the droid say, "I'm quite sure I didn't shut off."

She locked the door as she left. Threepio could open it, but Luke would be quite stuck.

She started to work again. She had managed to complete almost half a report before she heard her son again.

"Mama pay!"

"Luke, how are you getting out here? Where's Threepio?"

"Theepie sweepy." Luke showed his mother the toy he'd brought her this time. It was another small ship.

"Luke, the sooner I finish, the sooner I play."

Luke's two-year-old selective hearing only caught "I play." He grinned widely, "Mama pay!"

Padme rested her head on her desk with a sigh. "All right, Luke. We are going to try this one more time. You are going to play with Threepio and Artoo."

"Pay wif Mama!" Luke protested.

"Play with droids." Padme carried her hyperactive son back to his playroom. Again she turned Threepio back on.

"Oh dear! Mistress Padme! I have no idea…"

"Don't worry about it, Threepio. You'll have Artoo to help this time." Padme smiled at the nervous droid and went to retrieve his counterpart.

"Artoo, I want you to film what happens in Luke's playroom, do you understand? I think Luke might be subconsciously using the Force to shut Threepio down and unlock the door so he can be with me."

Artoo bleeped positive.

"Good. Now be careful he doesn't shut you off."

Artoo trundled off to Luke's playroom and Padme returned to her files. Padme had just finished a second file and she was beginning to think that maybe she had thwarted Luke for now when she heard his voice again.

"Mama pay!"

"Hello again, Sweetie," Padme gathered her son up in her arms.

"Mama like?" Luke held out a drawing for his mother to see.

Padme looked at his art and smiled, "It's beautiful. Let's go back to Threepio."

"Mama kiss Lukey!" Luke held up one little hand for his mother to kiss. Padme kissed his hand and carried him back to his playroom. She put him back on the floor and gave him one of his ships to play with.

"Artoo? What happened?"

Artoo bleeped and projected a small holo. Padme watched it.

She could see her little boy happily drawing something. Suddenly he looked up and started to toddle to the door so he could show his mother his drawing. Threepio ran forward and caught the boy. Luke frowned at the droid and let him set him down. As soon as Luke was safely on the ground the droid shut off. Luke headed back to the door with his masterpiece. Despite the fact that Padme was sure she had locked the door, he walked out to his mother with his drawing in hand.

"Thanks, Artoo, I'll deal with this tomorrow. In the meantime, I guess Luke needs some extra attention. Don't you Luke?" She turned to her son, who happily gave her a toy to play with.

"Mama _pay!_"

"Yes, Mama's playing."

"Mama!" Luke hugged his mother's knees.

Padme sighed and hugged her son back, wondering how she was ever going to free her little boy of his need of human contact at all times. Luke was two. He was old enough to sleep in his own room. Theoretically. Instead he slept in his mother's room. Padme had tried repeatedly to relieve him of this habit but he would just come running back into her room crying that there were monsters in his room.

Luke had disturbingly vivid ideas of his monsters. Padme had felt herself shivering at his ideas sometimes. Luke also had a disturbing habit of predicting terrible things happening in the galaxy before they happened. He would come to his mother with stories of "A big, scary man in black" hurting people. The next day there would be reports of Vader harming innocents.

Suddenly Luke started to sob helplessly, "Dada, Dada, Dada! Where are you? Mama, Dada hurts!" Luke flew into his mother's arms.

"Luke, Luke what's wrong? Are you all right?"

"Dada hurts!"

Padme stroked her son's back and rocked him until he stopped writhing. "Luke, it's all right. It's OK. Daddy's all right. I'm sure Daddy's all right."

Luke whimpered and Padme had a bad feeling about what the news would, or wouldn't, say about her husband the next day.

Sure enough, the next day there was no news about Vader. Or the day after that, or the day after that. Padme was really starting to be afraid for her fearless husband when he appeared again weeks later.


	4. Chapter 4

Vader smiled at his little girl.

He had taken her to a doctor and had him check for a reason that she was mute. He had told Vader that she had been scared out of speaking, so Vader had carefully helped her to calm down.

When she had calmed down enough to learn to talk, one of the first things she had told him was that her name was Laasya. So Vader watched Laasya dancing around the living room of his castle. The little girl loved spinning and prancing around her adoptive father's home. She was about five now and Vader loved having her around. Her smiles and sweet laughter warmed his cold, dark home. And his increasingly cold, dark heart.

"Come on, Laasya. It's bedtime." Vader grabbed one twirling arm and led his daughter to bed.

"Will you read me a story, Daddy?" she held her favorite story book up to her father.

"Sorry, I have a mission I need to start on tomorrow. I need to get some sleep." He tucked her in, kissed her goodnight, and turned off the lights.

"Goodnight!" Laasya called after her father.

"Goodnight."

Neither one of them could know that the mission would go so terribly wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't want to go to preschool, Mommy! I want to stay with you! I don't want you to leave me too!" Luke clung to his mother's legs.

Padme carefully pulled his little arms away from her legs. "I won't leave you, Sweetie. I'll come back at the end of the day. You're just going to stay here and play with new toys and make new friends. Preschool is nothing to be afraid of."

"I wanna stay with Mommy!" Luke grabbed his mother's legs again.

A little girl trotted up to them, "Hello. Are you new?" she spoke to Luke.

Luke cowered behind his mother's legs. Padme smiled at the girl, "Yes. Luke's just a little nervous. Aren't you, Luke?"

Luke didn't answer.

"It's Ok, Luke. Lots of kids are scared on their first day." The girl held out one hand to Luke. Luke took it nervously.

Padme smiled at the girl, "What's your name?"

"Rana. It's nice to meet you Mrs.…?"

"My name is Padme. It's nice to meet you too, Rana."

Rana took Luke's hand and dragged him into the preschool. Padme waved goodbye and left. Luke shot his mother another how-could-you-leave-me look and submitted.

All day Padme seeped in the guilt of leaving her son at the daycare. When she returned, twenty minutes early, she was happy to see her son happily building towers out of the blocks. Rana was sitting next to him and embellishing the tower with extra decorative blocks in specific colours.

Much to Padme's dismay, Luke was using the Force to place the top bricks. None of the other students seemed to find it odd. They were all playing their own games in other areas. Only the teacher stared. Padme hurried over to her.

"Ma'am I apologise, my son doesn't know what he's doing. He thinks that everyone can do that."

The teacher stopped staring and turned to Padme, "You are aware that your son shows some very prominent signs of being a Force sensitive and you didn't turn him in to the Empire?"

"So they could kill him? He's an innocent four year old!"

The teacher flinched, "Not so loud! I managed to convince the other kids that Luke's normal. They won't tell their parents, most of them have already forgotten. I don't agree with all the Empire's new rules and certainly not killing children because of the way they were born. Luke's safe here, but you should stop him from using the Force before the other parents return."

"Thank you." Padme hurried over to her son.

Luke hopped up, "Mommy!"

"Hello, Luke. I promised you that I would come back. Would you like some help putting on the top bricks?"

"Yeah!" Luke held out one of his bricks. Padme picked him up so he could place the brick himself. As soon as they'd finished their tower Padme and Luke said goodbye to Rana and went home.

The entire ride home, Luke gushed about Rana. By the time they got home, Padme knew that she was Luke's age. She lived in town. Her best friend was a gungan (but Luke wanted to be her best friend). Her mommy was always busy and her daddy wasn't around anymore. She liked to sing and draw. As far as Luke was concerned she was the best thing that had ever happened to the galaxy.

"I'm glad that you made such a good friend, Luke. Was preschool as scary as you thought it would be?"

"No! Preschool was fun! We built towers and drew pictures and we sang and Teacher read to us." Luke smiled happily.

Padme smiled and took her son's hand and led him inside. "Come on, Luke. I made your favorite for dinner."

Luke followed her inside, still babbling happily. Luke sat down at the table and Padme served him. As they ate, Padme asked him about every aspect of preschool she could think of. Luke managed to use Rana in every answer.

Luke's friendship with Rana grew quickly and soon Padme was half convinced that Luke thought that he had found his lost twin. Rana was at Luke's house or Luke was at Rana's. They were inseparable. Rana thought that Luke's Force sensitivity was very cool.

Unfortunately for their friendship, Vader was acting differently recently. Padme had kept her husband under careful surveillance since they had been separated. At first, Vader had been a fairly good enforcer, not hurting anyone when he could help it. Recently, Vader had started murdering at random. It tore Padme apart to see her beloved Jedi turning into a monster.

Padme had heard that Vader would torture people at random if he was in a bad mood. He would destroy families if they offended him in the slightest. He had torn small children from their rebel parents' arms and had them tortured so the parents would cave.

Luke's nightmares and random hysterics had gotten worse and more frequent too. Some days he would race into Padme's room looking over his shoulder as though something was chasing him. Or he would run to his mother sobbing that 'Daddy hurt' or that 'Daddy was scared'. It was the latter that really scared Padme. Her husband had always been well known for being fearless.

Other times Luke would be his completely innocent self.

When Padme had entered her son's playroom and found her son on the floor clutching his head and screaming as though he was in pain, she broke. Padme held her son and kissed his forehead and comforted him until he was all right again.

"Luke, we have somewhere very important to go."

Luke hiccupped and looked up at his mother, "Where?"

"We're going to go see Daddy."

The pain that had been so clear in Luke's features instantly vanished to be replaced by a wide smile, "We're gonna see Daddy! We're gonna make Daddy feel better and Daddy can protect me from the Black Man! Wait 'till I tell Rana!"

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry, but Rana can't come. Rana will be safe here, but it will be hard for us to get to Daddy. The Emperor must not know that we are going or he will be very angry. Daddy's close to the Emperor."

"But Daddy could protect Rana. He could help her and her mommy so that she doesn't have to work anymore." Luke looked at his mother with huge eyes.

"Maybe when we get to Daddy safely we can get Rana to join us, but I don't want to put her in the danger we'll be facing on the way to Daddy."

Luke looked very sad, "Do I at least get to say goodbye?"

"Of course you do, Luke. I need to ask her mom if she can house sit for us." Padme smiled, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to call someone."

"A good idea, this is not, Padme." Yoda's flickering image scolded her.

"I know that you don't approve. I didn't call to ask for permission, I just thought that you ought to know. You will still have Leia as your Jedi hope. I intend to take Luke to meet his father. I believe that Ani may change when he sees Luke." Padme cut the transmission.


	6. Chapter 6

Vader twisted in the Emperor's Force lightning. He could hear himself screaming. Under his own agonized howls, he could hear his daughter sobbing. He tried to reach out in the Force to calm her, but it didn't work.

Finally, the Emperor stopped and Vader lay still. Laasya ran to her father and slipped her arms around him.

"I hope that you have learned the price of failure, Lord Vader. I would hate to have to hurt your daughter." Palpatine sneered down at his servant.

Vader fought to sit up, "Yes, Master."

Laasya put her head on her father's chest silently. Vader cradled her close and managed to stand, weakly. "It won't happen again."

"You may go, Lord Vader."

Vader limped out of his master's throne room, leading his daughter.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Laasya." Vader longed to pick her up and cuddle her like he had when he had found her, but he just wasn't strong enough.

"Why does he hurt you when he sends you on a stupid mission?"

Vader sighed. His daughter was so open about her opinion. He had to agree that trying to eliminate the entire Rebel Alliance with just his lightsaber had been a really, really bad idea.

"My Master has a different opinion of 'stupid', Laasya. Of course, he wouldn't try that himself, but I am his servant."

"More like a slave sometimes." Laasya said, frowning at the floor.

Vader froze, and then knelt in front of her, "Laasya. Do you know the difference between a slave and a servant?"

"No." Laasya shook her head seriously.

"A servant is paid and can leave if they want. A slave is unpaid and can't leave. I am my Master's servant."

"But you call him Master. Slaves call their owners "Master". Servants don't, do they?"

"Servants don't have owners, they have employers. This topic is not open for debate." Vader marched up the ramp of his ship and started to pilot it back to his castle.

Laasya sat in the co-pilot's chair and stared at her hands. "Then why don't you just leave?"

"I told you this topic wasn't up for discussion." Vader gritted his teeth.

As soon as they got home, Vader sent his daughter off to play and went to bed. Moving itself hurt, but he didn't want her to be scared. After lying as still as possible, the weight of the blankets on his chest too heavy, he finally fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Padme had Rana's mom house sitting for her and she and Luke had managed to hitch a ride on a slave ship. Padme would have been lying if she'd said she was pleased with the ride for her five year old son, but it had been the best option.

"Mommy, why do they have chains?" Luke pulled on his mother's wrist and pointed to a slave.

"They have chains because they are slaves. It's wrong that anybody do that to anyone else." Padme pulled her son's hand to hurry him past the slaves.

"If it's wrong why do people do it?"

"They think it makes them strong, Luke. It's like a worse form of bullying." They arrived at their quarters and a man stepped out from behind the door, manacles in hand.

"I'm sorry you don't like your new future." He sneered.

"Don't even think about touching my son!" Padme shouted. She grabbed Luke and held him close.

"You hear that? Don't touch the boy or you'll make Mommy mad." He snapped the manacles over Padme's wrists and then another set on her son. Another man came out of the shadows and took Luke from his mother's arms. The man holding Luke took him down the hall while Padme was led into the quarters they had been assigned.

The man gestured to some "clothes" on the bed, "I suggest that you prepare for what is coming."

Padme looked in disgust at the exceptionally skimpy bikini-like garment.

"It would be best for your son if you were to cooperate."

"Fine," Padme picked up the top, grimaced, and took off her shirt. She changed as quickly as possible and tried to arrange what little cloth there was over as much of her body as she could.

He sat and stared at her for the rest of the ride. When they set down, she asked, "Can I please take my son?"

"I suppose," he drawled and went to retrieve Luke.

As he dragged Luke back into the cell, Luke stared at his mother, "Mom?"

Padme sighed, "Yes, sweetie." She reached down and scooped her son into a hug.

"Come on, we may as well get you into the building," the man grabbed Padme's chains and pulled her to her feet.

"I don't need you pulling me, thanks." Padme managed to pull her chains back out of his hand.

"Have it your way. We won't hesitate to shoot if you run."

"I'll keep that in mind," she responded, clutching her son closer to keep him out of harm's way.

The moment they were out of the ship, Padme ran. She heard them shooting after her and shielded her son as best she could. In the distance she could see the spires of her husband's castle. All she had to do was get there alive.

She managed to stumble through gaps in the walls that the men couldn't get through and generally out run them, but they were still close behind her when she reached the door.

"Ani? Ani!" she pounded on the door frantically.

The door opened and Padme relaxed slightly as she saw her husband, "Ani, I need to come in. There are slavers coming."

"Padme?" Vader asked.

"Yes, Ani, now I really need to get inside before they arrive!"

"How can I be sure that you're really Padme? How can I know that you're not someone else impersonating her?"

"Ani, you have to trust me! We don't have time for this!" Padme could hear the footsteps of her pursuers.

"If you are Padme, then show me your birthmark," Vader said, referring to a small blotch of slightly darker skin on her breast.

Padme pulled down the top of the bikini-thing so that Anakin could see the patch. Much to her surprise, he bent to kiss it, then put one arm around her and pulled her inside.

As soon as the door was closed and Padme felt a bit safer, she put her son down and glared at her husband, "I'm glad that birthmark wasn't anywhere more inappropriate! Did Luke really have to see that?"

Luke, on the other hand, looked up at his father innocently and smiled widely, "Daddy!"

Vader smiled at his son and reached down to pick him up. "Sorry, Angel, but it wouldn't have been the first time someone had tried to impersonate you. And you don't look like yourself. You never let yourself get in this state."

Padme caught a glimpse of herself in a darkened window, her hair was disheveled and she had gone to no length to do a fancy style that morning. The simple ponytail had been functional, but certainly not what she normally wore.

"I took the wrong ship." She said, by way of explanation, but her husband was thoroughly caught up in his son's smile.

Vader started to spin carefully on his heel, letting his son's little body fly parallel to the ground. As his son laughed, he let go and used the Force to send the boy sailing through the air. At first Luke let out a shriek of terror, then when he realized that he was safe, he started to giggle again.

Laasya stumbled down the stairs, still half asleep, to investigate the noise in the lower floors. She stared at the boy and woman who sat in the kitchen like it was theirs. The boy was laughing with _her_ daddy, the woman smiling faintly at both of them.

_That's my Daddy! He's the only person who's ever loved me! They can't just come in and take him away!_ She raced towards her father.

"Daddy!" she called. Her father didn't look up from the boy. It was almost like she hadn't spoken. "Daddy!" again, no response, she attached herself to his leg and clung to him. He shook her off and kept playing with the little boy.

_No! This isn't fair! Go back to wherever you came from and let me have my Daddy! He's all I've got!_ She hung around them for a while, but they were too distracted by each other to notice her. Finally she turned and went back to bed, feeling distinctly unwanted.

Laasya woke to the smell of caf and stumbled sleepily down the stairs, trying to convince herself that last night had just been a nightmare. She ran into the living room and into her dad's arms. He accepted her and swung her around.

"Laasya! Good morning!" Vader laughed and put her down on the counter.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked, gazing into the pot he had on the counter.

"I'm cooking breakfast, the same thing I'm always doing when you ask that in the morning. Are you hungry?"

"Yes! But there's too much for us," she said, hoping her dad would look into the pot and laugh and say that he hadn't noticed.

"Yes. The most wonderful thing happened last night, and you were there, don't you remember?"

"I remember. I was hoping it was a bad dream." Laasya started to fidget.

"Why would you hope that?" Vader asked, confused.

"You're _my_ Daddy."

"Of course I am. But they're my family too. They're the family I lost just before I found you."

"So you don't need me anymore."

"Of course I do. You're my family as much as they are now." Vader picked her back up from the counter and hugged her close.

"Promise?"

"Promise," he held her close then put her down.

As Laasya turned to take a place at the table, she saw a woman coming down the stairs.

"Good morning, Ani. Is this your daughter?"

"Yes. Padme, this is Laasya. Laasya, Padme."

Padme reached out one hand and shook Laasya's hand. Laasya decided that she liked this new lady who didn't talk down to her.

"Hello, Laasya. May I be your mom?" Padme smiled at the serious little girl.

"Yes!" a smile broke across Laasya's face.

The boy from the night before came running down the stairs after his mother, but halfway down he tripped and started to fall. Suddenly he froze mid-fall, Laasya turned and saw her father with his eyes closed, and one arm raised. Turning back, she saw the boy drift away from the staircase and into his dad's arms.

Vader carefully kissed his son's forehead, "Be more careful, you might have really hurt yourself!"

Padme laughed gently, "Don't give advice you won't follow, Ani."

"Do as I say, not as I do." Vader joked, putting his son down.

Luke trotted over to Laasya, "Hello, who are you?"

"My name is Laasya. Who are you?" she was reserving judgement on him as best she could.

"I'm Luke. Are you my sister?" Luke asked, with four-year-old bluntness.

"Yes. I think I am." Luke didn't seem too bad either, she decided.

"Thank you," Luke trotted off to take a place on his mother's lap.

"Hey, Luke, do you wanna come upstairs and play?"

"Can I, Mom?" Luke looked up at his mother eagerly.

"Go ahead, I'll call you two when breakfast's ready."

Luke hopped off his mother's lap and followed Laasya up to her playroom.

After Luke had quietly suffered through having her play with his hair and several games of 'house' Laasya decided that having him around might not be such an ordeal after all. Maybe this whole 'bigger family' thing wasn't so bad.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh, Ani, what did you do to deserve this?" Padme looked at her husband who was slouching in a chair, wounds very visible.

"I have no idea." Vader moved again, trying to get comfortable. He did in fact have a rather clear idea of what he'd done, he just wasn't anxious to tell Padme. He had spared the lives of a few rebels. It had been nothing really, but it had been enough to make Palpatine very angry.

Padme put Luke on the floor and helped Vader back to his feet then led him up to their room. She helped him lie down on the bed and Luke hopped up next to him.

"So, what did Palpatine do to you?" Padme asked, starting to wash one of the wounds with a damp cloth.

"Just Force lightning, the rest is from the actual fighting." Vader moaned and tried to roll over.

"_Just_ Force lightning?" Padme rolled him back onto his stomach.

"Daddy's gonna be okay, right?" Luke asked concededly, staring at a blaster wound in his father's back.

Vader rolled onto his side and pulled his son into a hug, "Yes, Luke, I'll be fine."

Padme sighed, extracted her son from Vader's embrace and rolled him back onto his stomach. "Luke, go find Laasya and tell her to make each of you a sandwich, I'll be a while helping Daddy. And tell her not to use the stove!" Padme called after her son, who had hopped off the bed and was starting in the direction of the kid's playroom.

"Anakin, quit moving," she added when their son was out of sight.

Vader stopped moving, "Sorry."

"Why do you put up with this? What is so wonderful about having him as a master? He treats you so badly." Padme finished cleaning and bandaging her husband's wounds and started to rub his back gently.

"It's good to have someone to take orders from when you don't know what to do."

"You think you know what to do most of the time, don't you."

"Yeah," Vader flinched slightly as Padme's hand ran across an especially sensitive wound.

Padme quickly pulled back from the wound, "Sorry!" then, more calmly, "Ani, you have to do the right thing. If you're doing this just because you're afraid to make your own decisions, then it's very selfish."

Vader sighed, "That's all I've ever been good at it seems."

"Don't talk that way, Ani. You can be self-sacrificing if you feel that it's necessary." Padme returned to smoothing the knots out of Vader's muscles.

"Well, unless he threatens our kids I don't think I'm likely to feel that it's necessary. He promised me that if I disobey him he would threaten them, though. Did you hear he took the Organa's five year old daughter prisoner so they would do as he said?"

Padme went rigid._ Leia! He has our daughter!_ "Ani, if he has Leia then he does have our daughter! I promised the Jedi that she could be trained as a Jedi, but if the Emperor has her prisoner… he's been torturing her hasn't he?"

Anakin rolled onto his back, "What?" he managed to ask before he felt the pain of rolling onto his wounds and his head snapped back.

"Leia is our daughter! She and Luke are twins! You have to do something!" She helped him sit up, rubbing his neck.

"That blasted sleemo!" Anakin snarled.

"How long has he had her?" Padme asked.

"About the same as you've been here, maybe a week. Oh, Force, I hate to think what he might have done to her by now…"

"Leia… oh, Ani, what kind of mother am I?" Padme started to cry.

"I'll get her back. I promise." Anakin kissed her cheek and stood up, putting his shirt back on.

Padme pushed the tears of horror out of her eyes, "No, Ani. If you go now it'll just prove that you are willing to try to free "political prisoners". You have to wait until you're doing better before you try anything."

"Padme, you know as well as I do that I can find extra strength when my family is in danger. I'll be back before you know it." Anakin kissed his wife one last time before he slipped out into the streets.

Padme moved down to the kitchen in a daze. Her daughter was in danger. Her husband was being his normal reckless self and putting himself in danger to save her. Yoda would be furious that she'd told Anakin. Stepping into the kitchen, she saw something that took her mind off it instantly.

"Laasya! What are you doing?" she exclaimed. Laasya was sitting at the table with Luke trying determinedly to spread custard pudding on a slice of bread.

"I'm making a sandwich. Luke said that you said that I should make sandwiches. Do you want one?" Laasya gestured to a pile of mutilated bread.

"I meant jam or something. Give me that knife and any bread that isn't a sandwich yet, okay? I'll make something else."

"But I want pudding sandwiches!" Laasya retorted.

"I think there are more than enough sandwiches for you. Are you sure there isn't something else you'd rather have?"

"Gumbols!" Luke said. He was very fond of the gungan delicacy. More than once, Padme's visitors had laughed about his odd tastes in food, but he didn't mind.

"Yes, Luke. I know what you like. I want to make something for Laasya, though."

"I want sandwiches." She crossed her arms.

"All right, enjoy." Padme pulled the knife out of her hand and pushed the pile of bread and pudding back to her. She went to the oven and put in some of her son's favorite food. She would cook for herself, her husband and her daughter when the latter returned.

After the children had eaten, Padme played various board games and whatever else they asked her to. Finally, she had to put them to bed, doing her best to deflect any questions about where daddy was. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.

When the knock came on the door at about midnight, Padme practically flew to open it. Anakin stumbled inside, practically asleep on his feet, a young girl cradled close.

"Ani!" Padme hugged her husband and took the girl from his arms, "Oh, no. Is this Leia?"

"Yes. I think she'll be all right. She just needs rest."

"She looks so-so… broken." Padme rocked the slowly bleeding form of her daughter carefully.

"He had no decency at all. Which reminds me, I'm going to need your diplomatic skills."

"What? Are you saying…?" Padme caught sight of the blush on her husband's face.

"Well, he wouldn't let me take Leia and he was hurting her so…" Anakin smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not upset! Not at all! Ani, I'm so glad!" In Padme's arms, the broken child moved a little bit. "Leia?"

Big, brown eyes blinked up at Padme. "Who are you?"

"I'm your mom, Leia. You're going to be all right. You're safe now."

"But-but Mom's on Alderaan." Leia protested weakly.

"I won't hurt you, I promise." Padme corrected herself.

"Okay," Leia yawned and pressed against Padme.

"I'm going to take her up to the kid's playroom. They have the spare beds in there for play dates. Would you grab a medkit?" Padme carried her daughter up the stairs and into the playroom, carefully stepping over the toys that had been left on the floor.

Anakin quickly retrieved a medkit and followed his wife. Leia was still on the bed and Padme sat over her, carefully untangling the girl's long hair.

"Here you go, Padme." He passed her the kit and Padme carefully started to bandage the girl's wounds.

Leia moaned and woke up. She stared helplessly at the grown-ups who stood over her. The man sat back and let the woman do what had to be done, but he was clearly worried. Leia smiled slightly as he tried to reach in to help with the bandaging and was promptly shoed away.

"How do you feel, Leia?" the woman asked.

"I'm hungry." Leia mumbled.

"Ani-would you please go find some cereal or something?" the woman turned to the man. He hopped up and ran out of the room.

"Are you really my mom?" Leia looked up at the older woman.

"Yes. The Organa family adopted you when you were born for fear something like this would happen. Tomorrow you can meet your twin brother. Does that sound all right?"

"Yeah. Is that my Daddy then?" Leia was too tired to really question any of it. Besides, it felt true.

"Yes. Welcome home, Leia." Padme put the medkit down, and then hugged and kissed her daughter.

"Mommy," Leia pressed her face against her mother.


	9. Chapter 9

Padme carefully shook her daughter, "Leia. Leia, wake up."

"Mmmm? Mommy?" Leia sat up and felt her mother's arms around her.

"It's okay, Leia. It's just time to get up now and I thought you might be hungry." Padme picked her daughter up and carried her down the stairs.

"Is that Leia, Mommy?" piped up what sounded to Leia like a young boy.

"Yes, Luke. Now just let her eat before you show her around, all right?"

"Okay."

Padme put Leia in a chair at the table and brought her a bowl of cereal, the same kind Anakin had given Leia the night before. A young, blond boy with a serious case of bed head clambered onto the chair opposite Leia. He watched intently as she ate and she tried to ignore him. Another girl with black hair climbed onto a chair beside Luke and smiled at her.

"Are you Leia?"

"Yes, who are you?" Leia asked with genuine curiosity.

"My name is Laasya."

Padme's voice came from the spare room she and Anakin were getting ready for Leia, "Luke, what did I tell you about bothering Leia before she's done eating?"

"It's not me, Mom! That's Laasya!"

"Luke, tell Laasya to leave her alone!"

"I can hear you too, you know!" Laasya interjected.

"Well, then, leave your sister alone!"

"Okay! Sorry, Mom!" Laasya turned back to the table to find Leia smiling slightly, "What is it?"

"I've only been an only child." Leia answered.

"Me too. Same for Luke," Laasya gestured to her brother.

Luke just smiled, letting his sisters talk so that his mother wouldn't be annoyed with him. Laasya noticed what he was doing and followed suit.

After Leia had finished with her cereal, she climbed down from the chair and walked around the table. Luke and Laasya both climbed off their chairs too and they started leading her upstairs.

"This is the playroom, but you've already been in here." Laasya said, pointing into the room where Leia had slept.

"I didn't really get a good look. Can we play in there for a while?" Leia asked hopefully.

"Yeah!" Luke added.

"Okay, we can finish the tour later." Laasya said, trying to take the big-sister's place.

Hours later they were still playing. Luke was quite relieved to learn that the girls both liked to play with each other's long hair instead of his shorter hair. Finally, he felt that they didn't really need his company and crawled into one of the beds to go to sleep. He was still a bit lagged because of coming from Naboo. Not that he'd admit it.

Leia didn't even notice that her brother was asleep. She and Laasya played for hours before realizing that Luke wasn't with them.

"Leia, have you seen Luke?"

Leia sat up, "No."

"I just noticed. I haven't seen him in ages." She dragged the A in "ages" to make it sound like a very long time.

Leia stood up in order to start looking for her brother and instantly spotted him on the bed. She sat back down with a bump.

"Shh, Luke's asleep. Mom and Dad wouldn't want us to wake him up." Leia held one finger to her lips and Laasya shrugged.

"Okay."

"I'm gonna get Mom to take him to his room so we can be loud if we want to."

"Okay. See ya in a few minutes." Laasya returned to playing with their tower of blocks.

Leia stood up and tiptoed past her sleeping brother, "Mom? Luke's asleep in the playroom."

"Okay, Leia, I'll be right there." Padme waited for her husband to finish screwing part of Leia's new bed together, then followed her daughter to the playroom. She carefully scooped her son up and carried him into his own room.

Leia trailed her mother back out of the playroom. "Mommy, can we tell my other mommy where I am? She might be worried."

"I'm sure she is worried, Leia. As soon as I put your brother to sleep we'll call her. Okay?"

"Okay."

Padme rested her son on his bed and his small mouth opened slightly. She kissed his forehead and pulled the blankets around him. She stood bacl up and led her daughter to the kitchen so they could call the Organa family in private.

"Hello, Bail Organa speaking."

"Hello, Bail. This is Padme." Leia crawled onto her mother's lap so she could hear the comlink better.

"Padme! I'm so sorry, we're trying to get her back. The Emperor has her locked up in his palace, though, and we can't get to her."

"Hello, Daddy!" Leia interjected.

"Leia? Is that you?" Bail sounded distinctly surprised and Padme laughed gently.

"Yep! I'm with my other parents." Leia said happily.

"That's wonderful, Leia. Are you all right?"

"Yep!" Leia was bouncing slightly because of the happiness of hearing her dad's voice.

"If you would like to come and visit us, we're at Lord Vader's castle on Coruscant. According to Ani we also have a Repubic to rebuild. He killed the Emperor when he wouldn't return our daughter."

"That's fantastic, Padme. I'll be there soon. See you later, Leia." Bail's comlink shut off, leaving Leia and her mother smiling at each other.

"They're really gonna come?" Leia asked.

"Yes, I think they are. Would you like to go back to playing with Laasya?"

Leia hopped off her mother's lap and skipped back to playing with her sister.


	10. Chapter 10

When the knock came at the door, Leia raced downstairs as fast as she could to find that her mother had already opened the door. To compensate for losing that race, she ran straight into her father's arms.

Bail caught his daughter and held her close for a moment before handing her to Breha. Leia smiled up at her mother and Breha put her down. As soon as she was back on the ground, Leia ran to get her brother and sister so they could meet her parents.

"Luke! My mom and dad are here!"

Luke turned from the simple model kit he had been working on with Anakin, "Mom and Dad are already here."

"My other mom and dad! Come on, Daddy!" Leia grabbed her father's arm and dragged him down to the main area, then doubled back to get Laasya. When she managed to drag Laasya down the stairs too, she found her family sitting in the living room and eating breakfast together. Leia crawled onto her adoptive father's lap and took the plate of food her mother handed her.

As she ate, she listened to her parents' conversation with interest.

"Do you want to take her back to Alderaan?" Padme asked.

"I think she might be much happier here. We can send Winter over too, if you like. She and Leia are practically inseprable."

Leia nodded in agreement.

Anakin moaned playfully, "Not another one. Three is confusing enough."

Padme genly punched his arm, "Well you'd better get used to it. Luke has an inseperable friend too. He's waiting for me to tell you about her so we can bring her here too."

"Oh, joy," Anakin joked.

Padme turned back to Bail, "Sorry, don't let my husband's big mouth get in the way. You think it's a good idea to bring Winter here?"

"Yes, she would be overjoyed to see Leia again. I left her with Leia's aunts."

"Do you think we might be able to leave the kids with you until Coruscant settles down enough to be safe for them?" Padme asked.

"Yes, I'd be happy to care for them. Would Luke's "inseperable friend" be joining us?" Breha answered.

"I think that Luke would appreciate it, but it's not nessicary. She and her mother are safe on Naboo."

The converation continued like that until Leia tired of listening and slid off her father's lap to go play with her siblings.

Padme had packed her childrens' belongings for them and loaded them into the Organa's ship by the end of the day. The kids were still more or less unaware of the plan.

Padme climbed the stairs and gathered her son in her arms, then took Leia's hand and called Laasya to follow her downstairs.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" Luke asked.

"You're going to Alderaan with Leia's other mommy. You're going on vacation."

Padme's words aroused suspicion in Luke. "You're not coming, are you?"

"No. Mommy and Daddy have to stay here."

Luke clambered out of his mother's arms and ran to attach himself around Anakin's leg, "I'm not going anywhere without Daddy." He proclaimed.

Anakin reached down to pick his son off, but Luke held on as tight as he could and Anakin knew that when he got his son off, the boy would just reattach himself.

"Maybe Luke could stay, Padme. I'm sure we can take care of one child in the chaos. After all, I took care of Laasya for four years when the Emperor was in control."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Ani." Padme said, taking over from Anakin with trying to remove Luke from Anakin's leg.

Luke sat down and wrapped his legs around Anakin's ankle too. "I'm staying with Daddy."

Padme sighed, "Fine, but Anakin, guarding Luke is your job. And, Luke, your job is to stay close to Daddy."

"If Luke's gonna stay, I want to stay too!" Laasya announced walking over and taking Anakin's tunic in her hand.

"This is why I thought it would be easier to just send them all away. Laasya, you're going to Alderaan with Leia." Padme took her adopted daughter's hand and led her out to the ship, the girl protesting the whole way.

"Change of plans, Bail. Luke insists on staying here. I need to grab his things, though."

Bail nodded and Padme took Luke's bag back in to the castle. She was fairly sure she saw Laasya glaring at her before being pulled away by Leia. When she reached the castle and dropped Luke's bag on a couch, Luke ran over to her happily.

"We get to be with Daddy!" he started to skip around his mother.

"Yes, we do. I have to do some work with Daddy now. I'll call you for dinner, all right?" Padme nudged her son in the direction of the staircase so he could play in the playroom.

"But I wanna stay with you!" Luke protested.

"All right, but we have to be working, so stay quiet, please."

"Okay," Luke ran in the direction of his father.

After hours of his parents talking about things he didn't understand, Luke was getting very bored. The fact that he could sense that his father was half asleep wasn't helping matters. Finally he crawled onto his father's lap and fell asleep.

"Anakin! Anakin, wake up!" Padme snapped her fingers beside her husband's ear and Anakin's eyes opened blearily.

"Padme? Whass wrong?" he slurred his speech, still half asleep.

"You fell asleep again. Please try to stay awake, this is imporant."

"Sorry," Anakin sat back up, shaking his head to clear it.

"Just try to stay awake."

Anakin nodded, "I'm awake, I'm awake."

"Good. So as I was saying, we need to contact Aang from Roona, Ask Aak from Malastair and the Dustig sector, Yeb Yeb Adem'thorn from Makem Te and the Nilgaard sector…"

Anakin nodded and started to drift back into his stupor. The bundle of his son moved in his arms and he carefully gathered it up and hugged it close.

"Anakin, you're not paying attention!"

"Yes I am. I'm just trying to keep Luke comfortable! And, shh… you'll wake him if you don't quiet down."

"I'll wake him, or I'll wake you?" Padme asked with quiet amusement.

"Both. Can this wait until I've had some caff?"

"All right, here, give me Luke." Padme took their sleeping son onto her lap and rocked him carefully while Anakin made caff.

Anakin walked back in with a mug of caff and curled up on the sofa. Padme put their son back in his arms started into her lecture on which senators they needed to restart the Republic. Anakin forced himself to stay awake as long as possible, but finally he couldn't resist the pull of sleep.

"Anakin! Wake up!" Padme snapped her fingers beside his ear again.

"I'm awake! Sorry, Padme. I don't see why you need me to help with this, though. We both know that I do more in the way of aggressive negotiations. Why don't you find one of your friends from the old senate to help you with this?"

"Because I don't know where to find them."

"I'll help you get in touch. It's been dark out for hours. Can we please at least get some sleep now?"

"Of course, Ani. I'll try to find someone else who knows more about this, I promise."

"Thank you." Anakin stood up, carrying his son. Luke mumbled something in his sleep and shifted to a more comfortable position that almost sent him tumbling out of his father's arms. Anakin caught him and repositioned him carefully.

"I'm taking Luke up to bed, all right?"

"I'm not sure. Luke has some problems with sleeping in his own room. Would you like to stay with him? It'll make him feel safer."

"All right, Padme. You know best." Anakin bent to kiss his wife and then carried his son up to the room the boy had been sharing with his sister. He tucked his son in and crawled into Laasya's bed. He watched Luke's chest rising and falling for a few minutes before going to sleep.

"Daddy?" Anakin opened his eyes to find his son pulling on his sleeve.

"Yes, Luke?"

"I'm cold."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you need something?"

"Cuddle me," Luke reached up to his father and Anakin pulled him into a warm embrace. After a few moments, Anakin tried to put his son down, but the boy clung to him. Sighing, he pulled Luke close and under the blankets with him. Soon they were both asleep in one another's arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Anakin woke up to feel his son squirming slightly in his arms. He looked down to find that the child was desperately trying to hide against his chest.

"Luke, wake up." Anakin moved his arms to shake the boy gently.

"Huh? Daddy?" Luke blinked awake.

"Is something wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Anakin sat up.

"Uh huh," Luke nodded seriously and resumed trying to crawl into his father's tunic.

Anakin pulled his son back out, grabbed his wrists and twirled him into a hug that prevented him from moving almost completely. "It's okay, Luke. I'm sure it was just a bad dream. You don't need to hide."

Luke stopped struggling and relaxed against his father's chest, mumbling, "Right. Just a bad dream."

Anakin released his son's wrists and picked him up. Luke slipped his arms around his father's neck and Anakin carried the boy down to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Anakin. Is Luke awake?" Padme turned from her list of senators to look up at her husband.

Anakin realized that Luke had gone completely limp and to his mother it would appear that he wasn't awake. "I think so. Please tell me that you did actually get some sleep last night."

Padme laughed, "Of course I did. Did Luke let you sleep?"

"Mostly," Anakin put his son down and Luke ran to his mother.

Padme scooped him up and put him on her lap. Luke immediately reached for the data pad on the table and Padme shoved it out of his reach.

"Are you hungry?" Anakin headed into the kitchen in his normal morning routine.

"Not really. I made myself caff. I think there's some left." Padme moved her son to the chair beside her and picked up her data pad.

Anakin glanced at the caff maker. The display said that the caff had been made about four hours ago. "Padme, I thought you said that you got some sleep."

"I did. I didn't say anything about how much." Padme took a sip of the caff that was sitting on the table in front of her and made a face, "If you want any of that I'd suggest warming it up."

Anakin rolled his eyes and turned to his son, "Are you hungry, Luke?"

Luke nodded.

Anakin got cereal for himself and his son and carried it over.

"I want caff." Luke declared.

"No, Luke." Padme didn't even look up.

"Daddy, can I have some caff?" Luke looked up at his father hopefully.

"Luke. That would be potentially dangerous for the entire planet. If you're anything like me, anyway." Anakin said.

Padme smiled, "I always kind of wondered why you don't drink caff."

"Well there's that and the fact that I don't like the flavour." Anakin smiled and continued eating.

"Please, Daddy?" Luke tried to reach for his mother's caff, but Anakin pulled it out of reach.

"No, Luke. You wouldn't like it either. It's really bitter."

"Fine," Luke crossed his arms.

"Really, it's not very good." Anakin said, trying to soothe his son.

"I won't know that until I've tried it." Luke countered.

"Fine, you want caff?" Anakin stood up and scooped a spoonful of caff out of the pot. He offered it to Luke who took it eagerly. Anakin grabbed the dishtowel as his son drank the caff. As he had expected, Luke spat it right back out. Anakin carefully wiped the caff away and hugged his crying son (he hadn't expected tears), glad that the caff had been cold.

"It's okay, Luke, it's okay." Anakin carefully picked him up.

Luke pressed his face against his father's chest and sniffled. He could hear his father trying to make him feel better. After a few moments of awkward hug that required Anakin to be sitting on his heels, Anakin stood up with his son in his arms.

Padme took her son from Anakin and rocked him carefully. "Luke, it's all right. It was just a bit of caff. Why don't you run upstairs and put on a clean shirt."

Luke hiccupped and nodded. Padme put him down and his parents watched as he ran upstairs to put on a dry shirt.

"Sorry, Padme, I didn't think it'd upset him that much."

"I know you didn't. He'll be okay. I'm pretty sure he won't ask for caff any time in the near future. Can you help me get in touch with someone about the new senate?"

"Sure." Anakin started to work on contacting one of the old senate members. After a few minutes, Luke came running down the stairs and threw himself into his mother's arms. Padme hugged him and put him down on the floor, encouraging him to go play in the playroom.

After a while, Anakin succeeded in contacting another senator and arranged for them to come over. As soon as they arrived, he headed up to play with his son.

"Daddy!" Luke ran into his father's arms and Anakin scooped him up.

"Mommy has a senator friend over, Luke. Would you like to come down to the garage and play there?"

"Yeah!" Luke nodded eagerly and Anakin carried him to the garage.

Setting Luke on the workbench, Anakin retrieved a small project he had been working on in his spare time.

Luke poked at it curiously, "What is it?"

"It's like a droid caller, except that I'll be able to call my ship with it."

"Oh," Luke picked it up and turned it over in his hands, staring at it like he expected it to start to transform into something else. "Can I build something?"

Anakin turned and pulled out some old droid pieces that would be danger free for his son. Upon giving them to Luke he was somewhat surprised to see the boy hand them back.

"They won't make anything. I want to make something."

Anakin stared at his son's pout for a moment before retrieving some more parts that were potentially a little more dangerous, but he would be right there if anything went wrong. He passed Luke the new pieces.

"Better?"

Luke smiled, "Yeah!"

Anakin watched his son working with the pieces for a few moments before returning to his own project.

After a few hours, Anakin had finished several small projects and his son was still captivated by the pieces in his hands. Anakin had thought at first that his son might have been as skilled with machines as he had been at that age, but as time passed on he was beginning to think otherwise. The pieces he had given Luke would snap together in just a few moments.

Finally, Luke pushed his father a creation completely unlike what the kit had been made to make with a satisfied smile, "Done."

Anakin picked up his son's completed project, "You are done, aren't you?"

"Yep. All done. It's a droid."

Anakin turned the object over again, "It's a very good droid. What do you want it to do?"

"I dunno. Maybe it can keep Artoo company. He must get bored of talking to Threepio."

"Why didn't you just make a droid caller like that kit was supposed to?"

Luke shrugged and took his little droid back, "I didn't want to. It was too easy."

"Would you like to paint your droid, Luke?"

"Yeah!"

Anakin rummaged around until he found some non-toxic paint and a few small paint brushes. He passed them to Luke and watched as the boy started painting on everything and anything he could think of. Soon after, Luke had painted the droid with more than all the colours of the most extravagant rainbow.

"Now it's done. D'you like it?" Luke held the droid back out to his father and Anakin took it, careful not to smudge the paint.

"I'm going to put it up here so it doesn't get messed up, okay?" Anakin put the droid on a shelf high over his son's head.

"Okay. Can I build something else?" Luke looked hopefully in the direction of Anakin's little junk yard.

"Go ahead." Anakin picked his son up and put him on the floor.

Luke immediately ran into the junk yard and Anakin could hear him searching through the rubble for something to work on. After a few moments he was back with a broken MSE droid. He held it up to his father for inspection and Anakin put it on the workbench, and then boosted his son up too.

Luke began working on his new project, but after just a few moments he perked up suddenly and stared in the direction of the door. Anakin reached out in the Force for whatever Luke had felt and sensed Padme coming down the stairs with her friend.

A couple of moments later he could hear his wife too. She was happily talking about Luke and when she entered the room Luke slipped off the workbench and ran to greet her.

"Mommy!"

Padme swept him up and continued over to Anakin.

"Hello, Ani. We decided to take a break and see what you and Luke are doing."

"How's Mission Protect-The-Senate-From-Power-Hungry-Jerks coming?" Anakin helped his son scramble back on to the workbench and Luke happily picked up his project again.

"As I expected."

"Is that a good thing?"

Padme smiled, "It's not a bad thing."

Anakin gave up trying to get an answer that was not forthcoming and took his son's creation off the shelf, "Look what Luke built, Padme. This is incredible. I gave him a kit to make a droid caller."

Luke looked up from his new project when he heard his name. Seeing the little droid, he stood up on the workbench and turned it on for his parents.

"It's wonderful, Luke. What does it do?" Padme took the activated droid and turned it over in her hands.

"Not much. It can talk." He shrugged, and then brightened. As Padme put the droid back on the shelf, Luke sat back down and returned to his MSE droid.

Padme gazed at her son and whispered in her husband's ear. _"Ani, I raised him. I know that he got your skills with mechanics."_

Anakin nodded and returned to watching his son happily poking at his droid. After a few moments, the senators returned to their work.

When Luke finished his new project a few hours later, Anakin decided that it was time to rejoin his wife for dinner and they left the garage, Luke dragging his MSE droid by a string he had tied to it. The droid's new programing hadn't really been completed enough for it to avoid running into things on its own. Anyway, Luke liked leading it.


	12. Chapter 12

Weeks later, Padme had managed to assemble a temporary senate. It was small, with only a few senators, but she knew that planets needed time to elect new senators.

"I think it would be safe to bring the other kids back now, Ani," Padme commented over breakfast.

Luke looked up from his cereal, "What was so dangerous, Mommy? Nothing bad happened, did it?"

"No, Luke. Nothing bad happened, but I thought it might. I just wanted you to be safe." Padme turned back to her husband.

"So Leia and Laasya can come home now? I was getting lonely…" Luke finished his cereal and pushed the bowl away.

"Well, that's Daddy's choice. Ani?"

"I think all the kids would have been safe here all along. You were the one who was worried about this. I'd be glad to get them back."

"Wonderful, I'll call Bail." Padme stood up and took her dishes, and her son's, to the kitchen.

Anakin smiled at his son, "Are you still going to have time to play in the garage with me, or will you be occupied with playing house?"

Luke made a comically exaggerated expression of exasperation, "Daddy, I _**hate**_ playing house. I wanna build stuff in the garage with you."

"All right, then. I guess I won't be lonely."

Luke looked at his father seriously, "I'd never let you be lonely, Daddy. I'd love you no matter what." Then the serious expression was gone and he hopped of his chair and grabbed his father's legs. Anakin scooped him up and returned the hug.

"Thanks, Luke. I wouldn't let you be lonely either." Anakin stood up and flipped his son over his shoulder. Luke squealed and Anakin used his Jedi reflexes to let go, spin, and catch his son before he could fall very far. Luke gave another howl of laughter and clung to his neck.

Padme came back in with a comlink. She rolled her eyes at her husband who had put his son on the table and was now tickling him mercilessly. Luke was giggling helplessly and trying to push his father's hands away.

"Boys, please. I have an important call to make!" she teased.

Anakin stopped tickling his son and playfully rolled his eyes, "Yes, _Mom_." He slung his son over his shoulder and carried him to the garage like a sack of vegetables, Luke giggling the entire way.

Anakin set his son down on the workbench and Luke pushed tears of laughter out of his eyes. Anakin slipped under the bench and pulled out Luke's most recent project. Luke took it and started working on it happily. Anakin took his own project off a shelf and sat on the bench beside Luke.

"Are you looking forward to seeing your sisters again?" Anakin asked his son.

Luke shrugged, "I want to see them again, but then I won't get to be with you an' Mom as much."

"Don't worry about it, Kiddo. We won't forget to spend time with you. And I promise you that if the girls start trying to do our hair I will grab you and run, okay?" Anakin joked.

Luke grinned, "Okay. D'you think Leia will like my droids?"

"I think Leia will love your droids."

"Can I make Leia a special droid?" Luke asked eagerly.

"Sure. What do you think she'd want it to be able to do?"

Luke frowned in sudden confusion, "I dunno. What do you think?"

"Don't ask me, Luke. Ask your mom, she knows more about girls than I would." Anakin laughed.

"Right. Ask Mom." Luke put his project down and ran to find his mother. Anakin took the opportunity to poke at Luke's droid; something Luke had established right away was against his rules.

When Luke came trotting back downstairs, Anakin had returned Luke's droid to its original place.

"Mom says that she doesn't know what Leia might like and that just 'cuz she's a girl we shouldn't assume that all girls are the same. And she told me to give you this for saying that she would understand." Luke marched up to his father and gave him a surprisingly hard punch for such a small child.

Anakin grabbed his son's wrist, too late. He hadn't been expecting his innocent son to punch him, "Luke, when Mommy tells you to punch me, she means gently. I hope."

Luke looked up at his father's face and saw that Anakin's eyes were watering in pain. Immediately he burst into tears, "I didn't mean to hurt you, Daddy! I didn't mean to!"

Anakin bent down and hugged his son, "I know you didn't mean to, Luke. I'm okay. Don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes. I don't mind. You learned from it, right?"

Luke sniffled, "What do you mean?"

Anakin brushed his son's tears away, "You're not going to punch anyone that hard again, are you?"

"Never," Luke buried his face against his father and Anakin hugged him close, wondering why the boy had had to take simple physical pain and add far more confusing emotional pain to it. The poor child obviously felt terrible about it, which made Anakin hurt considerably more than the punch had.

Finally, Luke started hiccupping and Anakin felt it was safe to release the boy for long enough to hop onto the workbench and bring his son close again. After a while, Luke had calmed down enough to squirm out of his father's arms and pick his project back up to start work on it.

Anakin kissed his son's forehead and returned to his own project.


End file.
